


Do Not Open

by yendts



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-13 01:03:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yendts/pseuds/yendts
Summary: Where fifteen year old Teddy Lupin goes digging in his mother's old room and finds out some interesting things about his father.





	Do Not Open

It was a typical summer weekend for Teddy Lupin, stuck at his grandmother's house for two days. He'd just spent the week with the Potters, and saw his best friend, Victorie, often. His grandma's quiet cottage was a big change of pace for him.

Right now it was raining and he could hear it pit-patting on the roof as he walked around the halls of the old cottage. He paused at a closed door in the upstairs hallway. It was one door down from his own room but he only ever remembered going inside once.

It was his mother's old room. He quietly pushed the door open.

It was not that he wasn't allowed inside, in fact Andromeda had encouraged him to go in there so he could get a better sense of who his mother was.

Teddy had just never wanted to disturb anything his mother had left, he was scared of ruining the memory of her somehow.

As he hesitantly slipped into the room, he could hear the rain hitting the panels of the two windows that were on either side of her twin sized bed. He glanced around at all the crazy colorful posters; some where magical - he could tell by the way the picture lagged and stuttered - and some were Muggle because he recognized the bands.

To his right there was a desk with pens and quills still occupying space in their holders. He gently pulled open a drawer to find it scattered with Muggle stationary like paper lips, staples, and sticky note packets. The next drawer held a few worn notebooks. He flipped through them to find they were song lyrics his mother had made up, mixed with edgy doodles, mixed with school notes He continued to look around, afraid of disrupting much more.

Teddy didn't notice as Andromeda stepped into the room quietly, he jumped when she spoke softly, "I knew your curiosity would get the best of you someday."

He quickly placed the notebook he'd wanted to hold onto back and apologized, "Sorry Grandma, I just-"

"No, don't be sorry. I've looked through it all too." It was now that she noticed how watery her grandson's eyes were. Her maternal instincts kicked in and she stepped closer to him and comfortingly placed a hand on his arm, squeezing it softly.

"It's not fair that I never got to know her or dad," he sniffled.

Andromeda pulled him into a hug, "I know, the world is very unfair."

The blue haired boy nodded, and rested his head on her chest for a moment. Andromeda pulled away as she remembered something.

She moved towards the closet that was to the left. "The one thing I have of your father's is in here. I've never looked through it out of respect." She lifted down a medium sized cardboard box. "It was the one box that your father brought with him when he came to stay with us before the War, and before you were born." She kneeled down and went to lift the lid back but it didn't budge. "Oh Merlin, I must need my wand, or some Muggle scissors," she spoke as she got up from the wooden floors. She was getting old and forgetful, thus why she did not always remember to bring her wand with her.

Teddy approached the box and sat down in his grandma's previous place. He tugged on the lid and it opened almost immediately. He felt a small, barely noticeable tingle in his fingers, the old magic that sealed it finally coming back alive.

There were three itchy old-man sweaters on top. Teddy chuckled as he placed them on the floor. Some other old clothes followed. In fact, most of it was just clothes, minus a small, worn shoe box tucked away at the very bottom. He carefully pulled it out, letting the clothes fall back down in it's place.

In black marker, scrawled across the top in his dad's shaky handwriting read, "DO NOT OPEN."

Teddy disobeyed the writing and lifted it's lid, not surprised to find that this was magically bound too. He wondered if he was able to open these boxes because he was Remus' blood. Another thought was that maybe his dad was watching down on him from the afterlife and wanted his to be able to open these things. Teddy wasn't quite sure if magic was capable of working though dimensions like that though. It'd be pretty cool, he thought.

On the top of the box was a copy of the one photo he had with his parents, him as a newborn. He frowned and set it on top of his mom's notebook he'd grabbed.

The next item was a scratchy letter from Harry dated back to 1994. There were several other letters and photos scattered around.

One photo was of Remus holding a baby with wild black hair that Teddy knew was Harry. In the photo his father's friend, Sirius, had an arm draped around Remus' shoulder and both men were beaming at the camera. On the back, in his father's familiar handwriting was, 'Sirius is a Godfather! Baby Harry - JULY 31st 1980.'

There was a news paper clipping announcing James and Lily's wedding which Teddy found sweet that his dad would save that. He set these things aside to show Harry on Monday when he'd be back at the Potter's.

His father's graduation certificate from Hogwarts was in there along with all seven Hogwarts letter's he'd gotten. The one from his fifth year that announced his Prefect status was the most worn, the creases seemed one fold away from ripping. Teddy knew that if he received the same letter at the end of this summer, that it's probably end up looking the same - he desperately wanted to be a Prefect.

He didn't realize that he was even crying until a tear drop splattered in his bare knee. He quickly wiped his eyes, even though he wasn't hiding his tears from anyone.

One of the last things stuffed at the bottom of the shoe box were three envelopes. One was titled, 'Remus,' one said, 'Moony,' which, thanks to Harry, Teddy knew we his dad's nickname. The final envelope read, 'My Lover.' This peaked Teddy's curiosity. All were written in the same, neat and slick handwriting. He didn't recognize it, and he thought he knew his mother's writing. Apparently not.

He decided to start with the one labeled 'Remus.'

'Moony,  
You have been on my mind for so long. When will I get an answer to my question? I hope I was not too pushy or forward for you. Just know I care about you more than anything else in the world. You light up my life like no other. You make me want to write sonnets about your kindness and beauty. Perhaps that shall wait until you answer 'yes.' I would not want to scare you off just yet ;). Anyways, I will see you soon, stay handsome XX  
-S.O.B.'

"'S.O.B?'" Teddy mumbled out loud. That definitely wasn't his mother's initials, and the letter was dated 1976. He set the letter on it's envelope and opened the one labeled 'Moony.' This one was dated 1978.

'Moony,  
I just wanted to wish my love a Happy Anniversary. It has been two beautiful years with you. I think I have fallen more in love with you since then. You are just the perfect one for me. I know we are only eighteen, but do you think we could be soulmates? I personally think so, but you might call me dramatic.

'I am writing this to you while you are out on an Order Mission with James. You have been gone for five hours but I already miss you like mad.

Can you believe James andLily are getting married in three weeks? I can not, but I also can, you know? I do not blame them, with the war and everything. If we could, I would have already gotten down on my knee.

You are beautiful, Remus John Lupin! Never stop being you! XX  
-S.O.B.'

Teddy still couldn't figure out who this mysterious S.O.B was. She seemed to love his dad a whole lot.

He was too curious now to hesitate. He opened the last letter which was titled, 'My Lover.' It was dated 1981.

'Moony,  
'I am sitting here across from you in our living room and I can't get over how stunning you look in this light from the lamp while you read your book and drink your coffee. The way your soft brown hair falls over your face is angelic. How your muscles move under your scarred and freckled skin drives me mad. I can not stop staring at the curve of your back, it makes me think of all the nights I lay memorizing your body. You are more beautiful than me. 

'Oh won't you marry me? (I promise that I will ask for real someday, but for now this will do.) We could grow old and have children. Wouldn't that be nice? I guess for now we will just have to steal Harry from James and Lily and pretend he's ours. They would not mind, right?

'Speaking of that munchkin, I can not get over his adorable Halloween costume for tomorrow. I know you died of laughter when you saw him waddle out in his pumpkin suit. He loves his uncle Moony :)

'You are heading to bed now but I am still writing because I can not get you out of my mind.

'I hate to admit that sometimes I am jealous of James and Lily. I know it's bad but I can not stop these thoughts. Just know that I love you more than anything and I wish I could give you the world. I promise to keep you safe and sound from this dumb war. You are the one thing I do not think I could ever live without. I would go crazy if I lost you. Please stay here in my arms forever. XXX  
-S.O.B.

P.S. Did you actually enjoy the pancakes I made you this morning or are you just lying to make me feel better? They were burnt for Merlin's sake! I know I can not cook, just be honest with me!'

Teddy let out a small watery laugh at the afterthought that S.O.B. left. He didn't have much time to think this letter over before his grandmother walked back into the room.

"Oh! You've got it open!"

"Yeah, hey Grandma? Who is S.O.B.?"

Andromeda carefully lowered herself to the floor and thought for a long moment, "Oh Teddy, I don't know..." Suddenly a curious look crossed her face, "Well my cousin Sirius always signed everything S.O.B. Why do you ask?"

Teddy held up the three letters, "These were all signed S.O.B. They're love letters to my dad from the seventies," he explained.

Andromeda curiously took them from him and grazed over them. Teddy watched as a small smirk formed on her face. "That's definitely Sirius' writing," she shook her head fondly, placing the letters down gently.

"What's so funny, Grandma?" Teddy asked, still mildly confused.

"I think I now know the real reason Sirius was disowned by Walburga and Orion."

Teddy vaguely knew of Sirius' story from Harry. "You're sure these are from Sirius?" He asked.

"Oh, definitely," Andromeda could see the gears turning in her grandson's head.

"Wait, so was my dad... gay? A-and if he was, how did he end up with my mum?" Teddy asked, even though he knew she probably knew as little as he did.

Andromeda shrugged, "I guess we'll never know, will we? But I do know that he truly loved your mum. He really did."

Teddy nodded silently, his brain trying to process all this and make sense of everything. Harry would be so shocked.

He turned back to the smaller box and reached into the bottom to find one last picture. This picture answered his earlier question.

The picture captured  his father and Sirius kissing before turning to the camera and laughing. He watched his father several times through before flipping it over.

'Taken by James. Sirius and I - 2/7/1980' with a wobbly heart was scratched into the back in his father's shaking handwriting.

He handed the photo to Andromeda and picked up the photo of himself as a baby with his two parents coddling him. His father looked considerably older in this photograph, but there was still the same love and happiness in his eyes. His scars were deeper and the wrinkles more prominent. He quickly did the math and realized these photos were taken eighteen years apart. Only two wars,  the loss of all his best friends, and however many full moons could make a man age thirty years in twenty.

Teddy looked over at his grandmother who had been staring at the photo of Remus and Sirius for a while and asked, "What are you thinking Grandma?"

She looked up at him a do reached a hand out to brush his cheek. "Oh, darling, I'm just thinking about how much goes on in people's lives that we'll never no because they're no longer with us."

Teddy choked back some tears before saying, "Do you think Harry knows this?"

"Surely not. I believe he would have brought it up if he did," she answered confidently.

Teddy nodded in agreement, "I'm sure he'd like to see these too," he handed over the small stack of stuff relating to him, James and Lily.

"He would love that," she agreed, softly flirting through the old papers.


End file.
